Moon on my mind

We are approaching the 50^th anniversary of landing a man on the moon. In the US this was, July 20, 1969. Naturally I find myself thinking about what we were doing on that historic day, at that historic moment.

Our family had one small television (black and white) and it was perched on top of the dresser in my parent's bedroom.We all sat on the bed and watched Neil Armstrong plant the flag and take his first steps on the moon. We sat in awe and watched, and dreamed of going to the stars.

"One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind!"

Apollo 11 was the first craft to land humans on the moon and then make the trip back home.

Near side of the moon showing the "marias" or seas of solid ancient lava.

Moon Trivia:

The moon is in a synchronous rotation with the earth. This means that we on Earth, always see the same side of it. This is called the "near" side of the moon. This side has numerous "maria" visible on it. A moon maria is a dark area visible on the near side of the moon which consists of solid pools or "seas" of ancient lava. The side of the moon that we do not see, which is always turned away from Earth is called the "far" or "dark" side of the moon there are many craters there. It is not called dark because there is not light there, we just never see it from our vantage point on Earth.

Far or dark side of the moon.

The moon is the second brightest visible object in the Earth's night sky. (The brightest is the Sun.)

Apollo 8 astronauts were the first humans to see the far side of the moon with the naked eye during the orbit of the moon in 1968.

The moon's gravity is 1/5^th of the gravity on Earth. Average temperature on the moon is 107 C during the day (224 F) and -153 C at night (-243 F).

Apollo 11 brought back 21.7 kg (about 48 lbs) of rocks from the moon, these rocks are made of basalt, which is an igneous rock. Apollo11 landed on an area of the moon called the Sea of Tranquility.

600 million people are estimated to have watched the televised landing of Apollo 11 on the moon in 1969.

Six Apollo missions landed on the moon from 1969 to 1972 at an estimated cost of 2.54 million US dollars.

Astronaut footprint on the moon.

Moon Timeline:

1959- The uncrewed Russian spacecraft Luna 2 crash landed on the moon.

Feb 1966- The uncrewed Russian spacecraft Luna 9 made a 'soft' landing on the moon and transmitted back 9 pictures of the surface.

A "soft landing" is when some type of aircraft, rocket, or spacecraft makes a landing that would be deemed 'survivable' and results in no damage or destruction to the aircraft.

June 1966- An uncrewed American spacecraft Surveyor 1, made a soft landing on the moon.

July 1969- Apollo 11, had three crew members, Michael Collins (who remained in the command module), Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong.

Apollo 11 Crew

Can microbes survive on the moon?

In 1969, Apollo 12 landed on the moon next to the remains of the Surveyor 3 (launched in 1967) robot spacecraft, which had been exposed to the lunar surface for 31 months. The crew retrieved several pieces of the spacecraft and returned them to earth, where they found bacteria that had hitched a ride and survived. What was the strain of bacteria?

Streptococcus mitis

Researchers grew Streptococcus mitis from a sample of foam from inside a TV camera on the Surveyor 3 spacecraft, which was not sterilized when it was launched in April 1967. The bacteria had remained in suspended animation for 31 months in space and reanimated when placed in a nutrient-rich broth back on earth. S.mitis is a harmless bacteria found in our mouths, noses and throats. Some scientists have since speculated that the equipment may have been contaminated after returning to earth, however NASA has maintained the camera was opened under sterile conditions.

https://www.abc.net.au/science/games/quizzes/2009/moontrivia/?quizState=a

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/space/moon.html